By Mary Hladky
Addressing hundreds of city residents, Mayor Scott Singer cast Boca Raton as a shining city with a remarkable past that is poised to achieve even greater success as it celebrates its 100th birthday this year and heads into a new centennial.
“At its core, Boca Raton’s DNA is about innovation. It is about making opportunity a reality. It was and must continue to be about getting things done,” he said in his March 14 annual “State of the City” remarks delivered at the Mizner Park Amphitheater.
As his chief example, Singer cited the city’s plans to redevelop the 30-acre downtown government campus to include a new City Hall and Community Center along with residential, office, hotel, restaurants and shops and green gathering places.
“Why take this on?” he asked. “The answer is simple. Our city is known for forward-thinking decisions. For our next 100 years, we need to lean into that legacy. We cannot accept the status quo. We must dare to be bold and tackle what may be difficult.”
Always Boca’s chief booster, Singer cited the city’s low crime and property tax rates, highest property valuation of any city in the county, triple-A bond rating, 13,000 businesses, 40 headquarters for publicly traded corporations and its beaches and 49 parks.
As Singer wrapped up, a montage of celebrities wished the city a happy birthday, including Tua Tagovailoa, Dan Marino and Chris Evert, along with politicians such as U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.
The speech was part of a free community celebration that included music by REMiX, yard games and food and beverage stalls.
The amphitheater was ringed by booths for each of the city’s departments where employees were on hand to answer residents’ questions and inform them about ongoing projects.
A booth that attracted a steady stream of residents was staffed by representatives of Terra and Frisbie Group, the team with which the City Council has an interim agreement to redevelop the government campus.
For visuals, Terra/Frisbie showed its conceptual site plan and images of some of the plan’s key features.
A representative said some residents praised the project, while others offered “constructive criticism” that will be taken into account as work continues on final plans.
For those who wanted to show their support for the city during its centennial year, city-branded centennial T-shirts, polo shirts, bags, bottles and more were available for purchase.
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